Wait, what was I worried about? Bill had rigged the library in a way that no patron could harm another patron who was on the premises. If anyone did have ill intentions, they were repelled and unable to enter. I grinned and took a step forward. To my despair, the barrier didn’t rise. I continued to walk up to the door, and the dilapidated façade transformed into the functioning library I knew. The entrance gave at the touch of my hand on the knob. Had I broken the spell? I didn’t think so as I hadn’t felt resistance or give. Was it the fact that only Bill and Lily were inside and no other patrons? The two of them weren’t visitors after all.
When I walked into the library, I don’t know what I expected. Suspicion, maybe, a zap of energy shot at my chest. What I got was Lily floating over to me with her friendly smile and her sweet disposition.
“Rue, I didn’t expect you tonight. Oh dear, it looks like you’ve been having a rough time.” She dipped closer to me, her feet not touching the ground. Most of the time when I visited, she went to solid form. Somehow Bill kept her well-stocked with human energy so she didn’t fade from view when she didn’t choose to.
Bill walked in from the kitchen carrying a plate of tacos, but for once he wasn’t focusing on them. His gaze was on me, and he watched me with very curious eyes. “Rue, tell me what’s happened.”
I raised a hand to my head and pushed the damp hair from my forehead. A quick touch of the book revealed it was tucked into my waistband where I had shoved it just before I entered the library. I would fail, so there was nothing to be concerned over. Besides, Bill could read my mind and often invaded the space without a by your leave.
“Hey, Bill, Lily,” I said. “I’m just here to…” My voice trailed off. In my head, I wanted to ask Bill about a way to break the spell. “I’m here because…”
Not only could I not ask the question about the spell, I couldn’t reveal my true reason for coming. Yet, I could think it. I waited, straining internally for Bill to read it in my mind. He just kept looking at me. Why? Couldn’t he see? I willed him to see.
Bill gestured for Lily to float aside, and he stood in front of me. I was never so aware of his power. This was Death after all. Bill had told me before that he hadn’t lost his powers even though he quit his job as a grim reaper. These beings could snatch the soul of a person with a flick of their little finger. Sure, their orders—again from what I had been told by another grim reaper—were that they left the undead alone. Bill had shown a willingness to flout the rules by quitting.
He touched my chin with two fingers and turned my head to the left and to the right. “That’s interesting.”
I tried clearing my throat but felt a lump in it the size of the state. “If you’re done violating my personal space, Bill, could you back up a bit?”
“Why is it I can’t read all of your mind tonight? There’s a big block right there.” He reached up to point a finger, but the tip never impacted with my skin. “I could push, but it might hurt you. Did someone glamour you? Do you need healing, Rue? I’m not a healer, but one of the books could help.”
A book. Healing. My desire flamed into a fire. I ached to tell him, and my heart hurt more because of his concern. He was my friend.
Lily wrung her hands together. “Oh, dear. I’ll find you something. I’ve gone over the books in this library many times. Of course, I haven’t scratched the surface with all that’s here, but we’ll see.”
She zipped along to one of the stacks that was visible. I followed her movements with my gaze, still silent. To my surprise, she was able to call new stacks just as Bill was able to do. He must have allowed it because of being so crazy about her.
Bill turned from me. “You’re weak. Let me get you a drink.”
He headed toward the kitchen. I opened my mouth to call him back, to plead with him not to leave us alone. No sound came out, and as soon as the door was closing behind him, I pulled the book from my waistband and began to chant.
Now I knew why I had been able to enter the library. Bill, ever curious, had known my mind was blocked from the moment I stepped into the street outside. He had allowed me in as both his friend and because he needed to know what happened.
Because I was vampire, I could move and speak fast. I could register all that transpired within milliseconds of time. The last words died away with Bill appearing from the kitchen as if he had teleported, his hair standing on end, eyes wide. The cries and roars of creatures unknown filled the air. Torment, darkness, evil, all of it mingled together to distort the space in the library as Lily was banished.
I sobbed and covered my mouth. Feelings. They overwhelmed me, especially despair. The woman Bill loved, my friend, the ghost had been banished. My crime on Lily was the worst I could have committed because I was in her position not long ago. Another vampire had tried to banish me when I was in spirit form. I had been saved, but as those doors closed to the underworld, or wherever the banishment world lay, I knew Lily was lost forever. No one ever returned.
“Run.”
The voice reverberated through my head. I dropped the book and fled, moving so fast everything blurred around me. At my rear, I heard Bill’s cries of rage and anguish. The spread of his power seemed to singe the back of my head. I pushed harder and put as much space between myself and him as possible.
After what felt like an eternity, I ended up on the abandoned property where I had returned from the past. I sank to the ground inside one of the hollowed out rooms and dropped my face into my hands. What had Almonester made me do? Bill might have let me go for the moment, but I was confident he would find me, and my abilities were no match for Death. He would kill me. No doubt about it.
Something cracked nearby, and I started. My senses were all over the place so I hadn’t smelled Nathan coming. He padded over to me and sat down. Slowly he began to change, and he squatted in human form. His large palm caressed my face, and I saw the worry there.
“Hey, baby, you okay?” he said.
“I’m fine.” My throat was dry, and I needed blood. “You were able to change back so close to the full moon.”
He looked proud of himself. “I’m growing.”
“The ghouls?”
“Help showed up. We got them all. I’m pretty sure there’s not one left in New Orleans.”
I gaped at him, and he grinned.
“Except your pet, Georgia.”
“Don’t call her that.”
“Rue, what happened? You disappeared. Where’s Almonester?”
“I trounced him,” I lied. When we were last in this building, I had promised Nathan I wouldn’t keep anything else from him. I couldn’t have known the choice to be honest would be snatched from me. To tell him about Lily would be to explain why I banished her. He and everyone else would soon find out what I had done.
“Good girl. I knew you could.” He kissed me. “How about you and I get out of the city until after the full moon? Just you and me. We can spend time together. We’ll make sure there’s a village nearby for you to plunder.”
“Not funny. That defeats the purpose of you getting away.”
“All I need is land. I don’t hunt humans.”
Nathan wanted me to go away with him. I had no idea if Almonester would allow me to leave New Orleans or what his next order would be. I needed to go to North Carolina to assure myself Jake was safe. I had to live with the guilt that I had in essence murdered a friend. Now, Death was on my trail. The future looked very dark indeed, and I wasn’t sure how long I would survive—if at all.
The End
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- Audrey Claire
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Night Fever (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 3) Page 16